Make Good – Doll By Doll: 'Doll by Doll' (Magnet MAGL 5039)

Mark Cooper reviews, under the heading “Make Good”, Doll by Doll’s third, self-titled album (Magnet MAGL 5039). He opens by saying the band’s romanticism is of the kind in which only the roughest men indulge. Remember came out two years ago on a different label, and now “finally” comes the third album, a shimmering, designed work that has not lost the band’s rough edge. The trademarks – choruses, lyricism and repressed anger – are all here, “present and correct”.

Jackie Leven remains a truly strong voice, combining raw blues with something of the pastoral mystic. Once again these trademarks are allowed to exercise over a wide variety of musical styles and echoes, but in a more compact manner than before. As usual Doll By Doll sing of deep matters in a poetry with roots in a brutal, mythic folk past, content for the most part to remain obscure. Cooper points to the sudden contrasts between the tender ballad “Main Travelled Roads” and the disco pulse of “Caritas”; handclaps recall sixties dance music throughout, here turned to heavier, darker purposes. Despite the exuberance the music never quite overcomes its brooding, sorrowful quality. He also counts among the high points the humble “Soon New Life”, a celebration of birth, and the folk tenderness of “Main Travelled Roads”.

His verdict: the record has an electric vision and a unity of purpose, with a pop cleanliness that Doll By Doll have never previously achieved. “Perhaps now the pirates will stand aside for the sorrowing warriors. As Jackie Leven has it, ‘Eternal is the warrior who finds beauty in his wounds.’” The review carries four plus signs (the picture caption reads “The sands of time run out for Doll by Doll”). The full headline reads "Eternal Warriors Make Good".